Chocolate Chip Muffins

Last week we had snow here in Northeast Kansas (as well as in other parts of the country). I was not amused.

I dislike being cold. Being wet and cold is even worse, and as it was a slushy sort of snow mixed in with sleet and rain, I was really not amused.

Luckily, it is finally acting more like spring, with sunshine, and flip flops, and thunderstorms on the horizon. And while I don’t necessarily need a reason to bake, I’m using it as an excuse to make these muffin/cupcake/thingys.

I’m sure there is a set distinction between a muffin and a cupcake. The texture. The ingredients. If you add in fruit or some other bit of fun.

I view a muffin as more of a breakfast food and a cupcake is more of a dessert. The recipe I used calls this a muffin, but it has chocolate chips in it and it is overall a sweet bread, so who knows.

In your mind, what’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? When does a muffin morph into it’s less healthy cousin, the cupcake?

Either way, here is the recipe I got from the Williams-Sonoma Baking Book:

Chocolate Chip Muffins (or Cupcakes)

Makes 12+ thingys

½ cup (4 oz/125 g) unsalted butter, melted

¾ cup (12 fl oz/375 ml) buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tbs vanilla extract

2 cups (10 oz/315 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cups (6 zo/185 g) sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 cups (12 oz/375 g) semisweet chocolate chips

large crystal sugar for topping (think Sugar in the Raw, or whatever generic version you find)

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or nonstick cooking spray, or line with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the buttermilk mixture and beat until smooth and mixed, 1-2 minutes. Using a large spatula, fold in the chocolate chips just until evenly distributed. Be careful to not overmix. Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim. Sprinkle on the large crystal sugar before baking.

Bake the thingys until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 20-25 minutes. If you feel the need to check, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes and then unmold the thingys and let cool completely. The recipe says to serve them at room temperature, but I didn’t quite wait and dug into one while it was still warm and ooey gooey. Totally worth almost burning my tongue.

Brownies with Salted Caramel Sauce

Today is an overcast, rainy, dreary day. To top it off, if feels colder than the 50° it says it is outside. Granted, being the cold weather wimp that I am, it does not take much for me to think it is cold, but I digress. The overcast day that we are having is perfect for a chocolate-y, caramel-y dessert. Ignore the fact that every day is perfect for a chocolate-y, caramel-y dessert.

Sometime last week, while browsing the April edition of bon appétit magazine, I came across the recipe for brownies with salted caramel sauce, which you can find here. This sounded perfect.

I made the brownies yesterday afternoon and decided to make the caramel sauce today (the magazine even said you could make the brownies a day in advance, just cover them up and keep them at room temperature). I made the sauce per directions and poured them over the brownies. I loved the taste of both the brownies and the caramel with the flaky sea salt. However...

Enter the issues I had with the brownies.

The brownies themselves were moist and yummy, but they had a very crumbly texture. The caramel was delicious, but it set up and did not maintain its sauce-like consistency. This all resulted in a crumbly brownie, topped by a thick layer of caramel that did not stick to the brownie and did not want to be easily cut.

Oiy.

Okay, confession time. I completely spaced and forgot to add in the bittersweet chocolate chips at the end of the batter making process. While I still love the taste of these brownies, I'm not sure if the chips would have made the brownies less crumbly, and thus easier to eat.

Anywho, you be the judge. Can you get over/around and just plain ignore the consistencies of the two parts of this dessert and enjoy it as it is?

If so, here’s how you make them:

Brownies

Nonstick vegetable oil spray or softened butter

1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder plus more for the pan

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

⅔ cup all-purpose flour

1 tbs instant espresso powder

¼ tsp kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅓ cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat an 8x8x2-inch baking pan with nonstick spray or butter. Dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess. Place butter, unsweetened chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally, until melted. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk flour, espresso powder, kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder in another medium bowl; set aside.

Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick, about 2 minutes; beat in vanilla. Fold in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients, just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

Poor delicious brownie batter, missing it's chocolate chips.

Bake brownies until a tester inserted into the center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, 20-25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let brownies cool in pan. Cut brownies into 16 squares.

Caramel Sauce

⅓ cup sugar

2 tbs water

2 tbs heavy cream

2 tbs unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces

gray or flaky sea salt

Bring sugar and 2 tablespoons water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, until sugar is a deep amber color, 5-8 minutes. Remove caramel from heat.

Add cream and butter (mixture will bubble vigorously) and whisk to combine. Let cool slightly in pan.

Drizzle caramel sauce over brownies and sprinkle with sea salt.

If only the caramel had stayed saucy and sassy.

See? A crumbly, layers peeling apart, mess.

Brandy Ganache Tart with a Toasted Pecan Graham Cracker Crust

HAPPY 100TH POST!! It’s difficult to believe I’ve now written 100 of these.

I must send out a thank you to you, dear reader, for continuing with me.

Now, down to the good stuff: dessert!

A week or so ago I purchased a tart/quiche pan, and I just hadn’t gotten around to using it. I scoured my cookbooks looking for just the right thing to make and I found this: Brandy Ganache Tart with a Toasted Pecan Graham Cracker Crust. Oh yeah.

This thing is rich.

Like Bill Gates rich.

Sultan of Dubai rich.

Un-freaking-believable.

Crust:

Nonstick cooking spray

9 whole graham crackers, broken

½ cup pecans, toasted

¼ cup (packed) brown sugar

generous pinch of salt

5 tbs unsalted butter, melted

½ tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

1 cup plus 2 tbs heavy cream

2 tbs (packed) brown sugar

generous pinch of salt

6 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped

1 tbs brandy

1 tbs vanilla extract

3 oz white chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom with cooking spray. Combine graham crackers, pecans, sugar, and salt in a food processor and blend until nuts and crackers are finely ground. Mix in the melted butter and vanilla. Press crumbs evenly on bottom and sides of prepared pan (the crust will be thick). Bake until set and just beginning to turn golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Bring the cream, sugar and salt to simmer in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the bittersweet/semisweet chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk in the brandy and vanilla and pour the filling onto the crust.

Melt white chocolate in a heavy small skillet or saucepan, stirring constantly, over low heat. Transfer the white chocolate to a resealable bag, twisting until the chocolate is in a corner, and snip off a tiny portion to create a very small opening. Likewise, you could transfer the white chocolate to a pastry bag fitted with a very small pastry tip (about 1/16-inch diameter). Starting at the center of the tart, pipe in 1 continuous spiral, working outward to the edge, spacing the lines ½ inch apart. 

As you can tell, my piping isn't perfect. Don't worry. The warm white chocolate will all blend together and it'll look fine.

Using a small sharp knife, draw the knife tip through the white chocolate lines from the center to the outer edge. Lift the knife (and possibly whip off the gathered ganache/chocolate) and draw a second line from the outer edge to the center. Repeat several more times, alternating direction each time. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

See, you can't tell that I have the piping skills of a hyperactive toddler.

If you want to make a spooky web design, instead of alternating direction of the knife, have all the lines go from the center outwards to the edge. Viola!

Now, once you’ve made this, you’ll need to pull on your big girl (or boy) pants and sit down and eat this delicious tart.

Baklava

I like watching shows like How It’s Made. My inner, and not quite so secret, geek is happy watching and learning. The other day they showed how phyllo dough is made and it got me thinking. Thinking about baklava!

Baklava is yummy.

It’s also rather labor intensive. However, that first bite will totally be worth it.

I based my recipe on the one I found here, only I tweaked it a little.

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 ¼ pounds chopped nuts (I used equal parts walnuts and pecans)
1 ½ cups butter, melted
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
dash cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.

Chop the nuts and toss with cinnamon and allspice and set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. 

Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.

Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. 

Bake for about 40-50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.

Make the sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Add the vanilla, honey and cinnamon and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon the sauce over it. Let it cool before eating. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Pineapple-Brown Sugar Galette

Did you know March 14th is Pi day? 3.14 Get it?

Here in town we have a Pi day marathon where they run pi. As I didn’t run it, I’m not sure what unit of measurement they run. If it were 3.14 feet I think even I could do it, but somehow I think it’s something larger than a foot.

Please forgive the Christmas themed plate. I needed something non-breakable that the galette would fit on.

As March 14th lands during the week this year, the Pi day race took place today, this morning in fact. A while ago I was asked to make a pie for the race and I happily agreed.

Not too long ago I got the Williams-Sonoma Baking Book and within it there was a recipe for a pineapple-brown sugar galette. If you are not familiar, a galette is a free-form pie, made without a pie pan, and the edges are simply folded over the filling and baked.

This is super simple and makes for a stress free dessert.

You will need:
a single layer of pie crust, rolled out to about 12 inches
1 pineapple, trimmed, sliced, and cored, 8-10 slices
3-4 tbs packed brown sugar
1 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Place the pie crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and overlap the pineapple in a spiral, leaving a 1 ½ inch border around the edge. 

Sprinkle the brown sugar over the pineapple and dot with the pieces of butter. Fold the border edges over the pineapple, overlapping the dough. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Bake the galette until the crust is golden brown and the pineapple is tender, about 50 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the galette cool slightly. The galette is best when served warm.

Mint Green Marshmallows

Now this is what I call my kind of St. Patrick's Day treat. It’s green and squishy. Minty and chocolaty. Perfect.

Now you have no excuse to not have mint hot chocolate.

I took the beer marshmallow recipe I made a while ago and removed the beer (I know, a St. Patricks Day recipe that takes beer away. If you can find a beer that would work with peppermint, go for it.) and replaced the beer with water, and replaced the vanilla extract with peppermint extract. I also added in about a dozen+ drops of green food coloring.

I am so happy with how it all turned out.

makes one 9 x 13 pan of marshmallows, cut however you desire

3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided in two
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon peppermint extract
Green food coloring 
2 bags of dark chocolate chips

Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and sprinkle on powdered sugar to cover and coat the bottom and sides, and then set aside. 

In the bowl of your electric mixer (a whisk attachment is best), pour 1/2 cup cold water and 3 1/2 packs of gelatin. I gently mixed with a spoon once, then let sit while you make the sugar mixture.

In a large pot combine sugar, remaining water, syrup and salt. Heat over low heat and whisk until sugar is dissolved, about 3-5 minutes. Turn heat up to medium and let sugar come to a boil. It will bubbly up so keep yours eye on it so it does not overflow. Let it boil for 8-12 minutes, until it reaches 240 degrees F (measure with a candy thermometer).

Once the mixture is at 240 degrees F, turn off heat and gently pour it in the mixer over the gelatin with the mixer on low speed. Once all of the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to high and beat for for 6-8 minutes. It should grow in size and be white and fluffy. About 3-4 minutes in, add the egg whites to a separate bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Once stiff peaks are formed, add egg whites, peppermint extract, and the green food coloring to the sugar/gelatin mixture and beat until just combined. I used anywhere from a dozen to 20+ drops of food coloring and it was still a pale green color. Don't worry too much, as the color will deepen as the marshmallow sets up.

Pour the marshmallow mix into the 9 x 13 pan. Dust powdered sugar on top and let sit to firm up for 3-5 hours. Once firm, turn the pan upside down on a cutting board to release marshmallow rectangle. Cut them into pieces of whatever size you like. If you are using these just as marshmallows, toss the cut pieces with powdered sugar and store in a sealable container. If you are going to coat them in chocolate, don't toss them in sugar, as that will make it difficult for the chocolate to stick.

Melt the chocolates over a double boiler or in intervals in the microwave, and dip the marshmallows.

Nougat de Montelimar

I came across a bunch of recipes while in school, but I personally didn’t make all of them. A while ago I saw something on TV that reminded me of the nougat we made in school and suddenly had a “I gotta make this” urge.

Sadly, I didn’t have time right then and there, plus it calls for 2 ingredients not found in a normal grocery store: glucose (like corn syrup, but oodles thicker), and cocoa butter (not the lotion, the solid stuff used in candy making).

I was on a quest.

I found the glucose at Michaels hobby shop, but the person working there hadn’t heard of cocoa butter outside of the lotion variety.

Amazon.com to the rescue!

So. I collected all the ingredients and set out to make these. I made them last night and brought them to a family gathering today. I needed to work with a dairy allergy, but luckily I was told the Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate does not contain any (or enough) dairy to cause a reaction, so I went with that brand. 

Please note that the cocoa butter listed in the ingredients below does not contain any actual dairy. It’s a byproduct of chocolate production and helps stabilize the nougat.

Now then, here we go:

Nougat de Montelimar
187.5 g water
139.5 g glucose
622.5 g sugar
375 g honey

75 g egg white
37.50 g sugar

45 g cocoa butter
75 g almonds, roasted
75 g pistachios, roasted
75 g hazelnuts, roasted (I used cashews instead)
Dark chocolate for dipping

Line a quarter sheet pan (or 9x13 baking dish) with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.

Over a double boiler, melt the cocoa butter and then set it aside. 

In a large pot, boil sugar, water, glucose to 260ºF.

At the same time in separate pot, boil the honey and when the sugar water reaches 260ºF pour it in and continue heating it to 275ºF. The mixture will expand as you add the honey, so make sure you have a large, multi-quart pot.

Meanwhile whip whites until frothy and slowly pour in the sugar and continue whipping until to full volume.

Pour hot mixture onto egg whites and whip until the mixture again reaches full volume and add the melted cocoa butter. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of this stage, it all happens very quickly and I only have so many hands.

Fold in nuts and pat out onto the sheet pan and press the surface to smooth out the top.

Once the nougat has set, cut and dip in chocolate.

I did find that the nougat spread a bit after I cut it and the only way to avoid this is to keep it chilled or to fully coat it in chocolate (or do both). However, if you do find that it has spread, don't worry. It still tastes fantastic. Also, the nougat is rather sticky, so avoid wax paper if you can.

Enjoy!